Obama Faults Bankers' `Greed and Irresponsibility,' Takes Cash
By Jonathan D. Salant
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aTTJaS.t0Rn8&refer=home
Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama relies on the Internet to bring in millions of small-dollar donors. For heftier-size contributions, he counts on hundreds of fundraisers, many with ties to the financial firms he decries on the campaign trail.
Even as he condemns special interests and refuses money from lobbyists, Obama has followed a fundraising model created by President George W. Bush, enlisting 561 people to ``bundle'' donations from friends, family and co-workers.
The fundraisers -- who have brought in more than $76 million to his presidential campaign -- include 35 executives and members of law firms that lobby for companies at the center of the nation's financial crisis, from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and American International Group Inc. to Fannie Mae.
``It would be naive for any of us to think that these same people don't want something specific out of an Obama administration,'' said Craig Holman, a lobbyist for Public Citizen, a Washington-based advocacy group, referring to the corporate executives bundling for the candidate.
The Illinois Democrat's campaign has raised around half its record $605 million in chunks of $200 or less and touts its 3.1 million donors, a grassroots campaign that far surpasses any other in U.S. presidential-election history.
Still, 47 individuals have raised at least $500,000 each for Obama. They are able to tap networks to get hundreds of people to give up to the maximum $2,300 contribution to a candidate and as such become invaluable to campaigns raising money.
McCain's Bundlers
His Republican opponent, Arizona Senator John McCain, has also counted on bundlers to help fund his campaign, and they've accounted for a far greater percentage of the money he has raised. Unlike Obama, McCain, 72, is taking public money for the general election, so is no longer raising campaign funds, though bundlers are still collecting money for the Republican National Committee.
McCain has 538 bundlers who raised at least $77.8 million for him until he got his party's nomination last month.
Ben LaBolt, an Obama campaign spokesman, said the Democrat hasn't accepted any money from registered federal lobbyists or political action committees, unlike McCain.
``John McCain has raised $2.26 million from Washington lobbyists and PACs during this campaign, while Barack Obama hasn't accepted a dime,'' LaBolt said. He said Obama and fellow Senator Russell Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, led the fight for the 2007 ethics law that required lobbyists to disclose who they're bundling money for. The Federal Election Commission is drafting the disclosure rules.
Lawyers and Bankers
Members of the securities and investment industry make up Obama's second-biggest group of bundlers, 56, behind only the 80 lawyers who have raised funds, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group.
Even so, Obama, 47, has laid much of the blame for the nation's credit crunch on investment banks, condemning the ``greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street that got us into this mess'' in an Oct. 9 speech in Dayton, Ohio.
His biggest source of campaign cash are the employees of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and their families, who contributed $739,521 through Aug. 31. Goldman Sachs changed to a bank holding company last month, giving it access to deposits, while increasing federal regulation.
UBS Connection
Employees of UBS AG and their families were Obama's ninth- biggest source of money, giving $419,550. UBS Americas Chairman Robert Wolf has raised more than $500,000 for Obama and has met with the candidate on the financial crisis. The Swiss company, which has suffered the biggest losses of any European bank from the global credit crisis, is getting a $59.2 billion aid infusion from Switzerland's government.
Three of Obama's fundraisers work for firms registered to lobby for AIG: Peter Bynoe of DLA Piper, David Jacobson of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, and Edward Lazarus of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, according to House disclosure records and Public Citizen.
The federal government took control of New York-based AIG last month in exchange for an $85 billion loan to prevent the bankruptcy of the nation's biggest insurer. The company said yesterday it would suspend its lobbying activities.
The government also took over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and took those companies out of the lobbying business last month.
James Johnson
One of Obama's fundraisers is former Fannie Mae Chairman James Johnson, who brought in between $200,000 and $500,000 for the campaign. Johnson left Obama's vice presidential search committee on June 11 after just a week, following reports that he received preferential mortgage rates from Countrywide Financial Corp., which suffered losses due to the collapse of the subprime-mortgage market and was bought by Bank of America Corp.
McCain's campaign also has ties to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Several lobbyists for the companies are among his top fundraisers, including Kirk Blalock and Wayne Berman, who each raised more than $500,000; former U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato of New York, who brought in between $250,000 and $500,000; and Richard Hohlt, who raised at least $100,000. A Freddie Mac board member, Geoffrey Boisi, raised at least $100,000 for McCain.
``Now, all the benefit is going to the candidate,'' said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics. ``Once the next administration and Congress are in place, that's payback time.''
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